Selwyn introduces today’s study with these words: “Today we ask ourselves: What is the point of the uncomfortable psalms – these jarring outpourings in which the psalmists capture the struggles of the heart as it attempts to make sense of the goodness of God in the midst of the troubles of life?”
He goes on to say: “One of the purposes of this type of psalm is simply this: to invite us to admit whatever we feel, know we are not alone in those feelings and work through our uncomfortable emotions to a deeper relationship with God. … they also teach us how to wrestle with negative feelings until those negative feelings give way to hope.”
Psalm 139 has been set for reading and meditation, and it’s another great psalm.
The verses highlighted by Selwyn are worth thinking about (Psalm 139:23-24, New Living Translation): “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”
There are aspects of our personality which we accept as normal but they’re offensive to God. An honest relationship with God is vital for our spiritual growth. We must be willing, to say to God – ‘search me and point out anything that I need to change’. It’s the willingness to undergo such an analysis by God and to be prepared to listen to His advice – that we can grow to become more like Jesus. It’s an acceptance that often we are not able to identify the causes of our anxieties and fears – we just don’t know ourselves as well as we might think – and that’s a hard fact to accept! Jesus created us – and, as the potter who moulded these jars of human clay – He knows us, inside out.
What are your views on this?
‘An anatomy of the soul’
Selwyn introduces today’s study with these words: “Today we ask ourselves: What is the point of the uncomfortable psalms – these jarring outpourings in which the psalmists capture the struggles of the heart as it attempts to make sense of the goodness of God in the midst of the troubles of life?”
He goes on to say: “One of the purposes of this type of psalm is simply this: to invite us to admit whatever we feel, know we are not alone in those feelings and work through our uncomfortable emotions to a deeper relationship with God. … they also teach us how to wrestle with negative feelings until those negative feelings give way to hope.”
Psalm 139 has been set for reading and meditation, and it’s another great psalm.
The verses highlighted by Selwyn are worth thinking about (Psalm 139:23-24, New Living Translation): “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”
There are aspects of our personality which we accept as normal but they’re offensive to God. An honest relationship with God is vital for our spiritual growth. We must be willing, to say to God – ‘search me and point out anything that I need to change’. It’s the willingness to undergo such an analysis by God and to be prepared to listen to His advice – that we can grow to become more like Jesus. It’s an acceptance that often we are not able to identify the causes of our anxieties and fears – we just don’t know ourselves as well as we might think – and that’s a hard fact to accept! Jesus created us – and, as the potter who moulded these jars of human clay – He knows us, inside out.
What are your views on this?